AP Explains: GOP Battles Bailout Perception on Puerto Rico

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Apr 25, 2016, 2:21 PM ET

Debt-ridden Puerto Rico faces a $422 million bond payment deadline Sunday with no sign Congress will act in time to help.

Further complicating lawmakers' efforts to steer the U.S. territory away from economic collapse are ads airing nationwide that claim the legislation amounts to a financial bailout even though the bill has no direct financial aid.

House conservatives have latched onto that argument, making it difficult for Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to garner support for the bill. Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop, R-Utah, says he is reworking the bill, and a new version could come as soon as this week.

It's unlikely to come in time for Puerto Rico to avoid default on the nearly half-billion-dollar debt payment. The AP explains Puerto Rico's debt crisis, what's happening in Congress and the outside forces.

———

PUERTO RICO'S IN BAD SHAPE

Puerto Rico's government is running out of money. Agricultural revenue has diminished and federal tax incentives that lured manufacturers were phased out by Congress a decade ago.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]